The Wounded Hero
by Andoriol
Summary: Shepard, the hero of the galaxy, the first human Spectre, the savior of Elysium, the Survivor of Akuze. But what does that calm exterior hide? This is my take on the story of Mass Effect, a way it could have gone.
1. WTF? A Granola Bar?

Shepard sat silently in the Normandy's com room. Rocking one of the chairs back and forth idly as he thought.

This wasn't right.

He stopped rocking only to bring his hands together and twiddle his thumbs, he knew he was on edge but he had to keep from repeating a motion over and over.

Biotics were a bit iffy like that.

A slow exhale served to calm him enough so he wouldn't accidentally send himself floating out of his chair, yet it wasn't enough to shake his unease.

He was the first human Spectre. He was in charge of probably the single most advanced ship in Citadel space _(except that dreadnaught that had almost landed on Eden Prime)_. And to top it all off he was on a mission to stop what could be the greatest threat the galaxy ever known… and the council almost didn't help.

Putting it like that it sounded reasonable for him to be uneasy. But Shepard knew full well it wasn't just that.

Something had felt off on Mindior.

Something had felt off on Akuze.

Something had felt off as they were going to Eden Prime.

And something felt off now.

It wasn't as bad as before, that little weight in his stomach, the anxious energy that made him want to move, just move around and do something… it was there, but it didn't demand his full attention.

They had only recently passed through their first Mass Relay on their way towards the Artemis Tau Cluster; he had a feeling that the Matriarchs daughter would be of some importance… though how much he didn't know.

It took several deep-breathing exercises for Shepard to calm himself down and to push the unease to the back of his mind. Only when he was done did he get out of the chair and go out onto the sh- no… _his _ship.

And he walked, wandering the ship with his hands in his pockets.

He eventually ended up heading for the elevator to the cargo bay and engineering of the Normandy, with getting to know his newest crew members in mind.

It took almost an hour of talking with them each individually before he thought he could understand them some.

Garrus was easy to read as far as Shepard could tell. He wanted to do the right thing, but he focused more on the results rather than the methods to get it. He was a C-sec officer who had started to chafe at the rules, and, seeing an opportunity to work outside of them, took it. He would need the turians skill with the sniper rifle, surprisingly surpassing Shepard's own by far; but he would also need to get the former officer to understand that the methods meant just as much as the results in their line of work.

Tali was a bit harder right now, Shepard still didn't know much about her, but he could guess at her personality. Still young and passionate, and though she seemed to understand that life wasn't all fun and roses, she was still a bit naïve and she had a good heart. She would definitely come in handy, her talents with computers and electronics was almost inhuman (figuratively speaking of course), and even though Shepard had some skill at decrypting a locked box or enhancing the kinetic shielding of his armor, he didn't hold a candle to the girl, and she was still relatively inexperienced.

And then there was Wrex.

A smile spread on Shepard's face even as he rode the elevator back up towards his quarters for a nap. The two of them had only spoken for a short while, but he knew that for all of his violence and wanton destruction, Wrex was a good person at heart. Violent, aggressive, and lacking the majority of morals most races lived by, yes, a good person at heart, still yes.

The Commander stepped into the captains' quarters, standing just inside the door and letting it close behind him with a hiss. With a sigh, he walked over and sat down in one of the two desks in the room then reached up and keyed the small com unit in his ear to a frequency Shepard had dubbed 'Wisecrack.'

"How long until we hit the last relay?"

"E.T.A. is about 8 hours Commander, should we happen to slip into a gravity well and add a few more hours so you can take a nap?" Jokers' voice teased over the com.

"No, eight is more than enough Joker. Just be sure to wake me only when we're about to hit the relay," he grinned though he knew Joker wouldn't see it, and did his best to keep his voice even, "A man needs his beauty sleep, and we both know I need every minute."

"Certainly Commander!" he caught the end of a laugh before Joker cut out.

Shepard smiled some; Joker would probably always cheer him up.

But back to business, he stretched out his arms and set his fingers to the console in front of him, his fingers flying quietly as he drug up as much information as his newfound Spectre status would grant him.

He was mildly surprised, in addition to the data the Alliance systems had, there were the occasional notes from various other races on the planets and systems in the cluster. He was also able to pull up some notes on Dr. T'Soni, though not as many as he would like.

Picture, name, age in standard years, and several notes on the digs that she had been to.

Shepard laced his fingers in front of his face and glared at the computer screen in front of him.

There was almost nothing on her. He had honestly expected more.

But that was beside the point, he would learn more about her when they met. Right now he had his hands full just finding her.

Skimming over the main systems again, he noticed that only the Knossos system had any notable Prothean ruins, and even then, only on Therum.

'_Well…' _he mused to himself, _'I guess that narrows the search just a bit… Prothean scientist, only one ruin in the entire cluster that she's in…. wellll…'_

"Joker."

"Yes Commander? Up from your catnap already?"

"Plot a course to Therum, it's in the Knossos system. I think I found our good doctor."

"Right away sir."

As the com shut off once again Shepard stood and stretched, _'Now about that nap…'_

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Shepard's eyes snapped open, his chest heaving, his skin cold and coated with sweat.

What had happened? What had he seen? Was that a nightmare? He hadn't woken up like that in years.

"Commander?"

Shepard sat up, shaking the last vestiges of the night terror from his mind, "Yes?"

"Joker says we're only an hour away from the system… he couldn't get you on the com… are you alright, sir?"

It finally registered in the alliance officers mind that it was Williams speaking through the door, "Yeah… I'll be out in a minute…" his voice was tired, worn, gravely. He banished that as he swung out of bed, "Tell Wrex and Tali to meet me by the Mako and gear up, the three of you are coming with me to Therum."

"Aye aye sir."

Shepard tugged on a nearby shirt as he headed out of the room, _'Time to get ready.'_

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Fifteen minutes later he was sitting cross-legged beside the Mako, checking each of his weapons automatically as he talked to the shore party.

"Alright, I'll run this over for you once, this is an unofficial briefing Williams so feel free to ask questions. Anyways, the planet is hot, uncomfortably so for humans and Quarians, but survivable." A nod to Wrex, "You should feel right at home though," a grunt in reply.

"The mission is to find Dr. T'Soni and bring her back to the Normandy. If she _is _working for Saren, it may be necessary to use force to bring her along, but I doubt it."

"What if there are geth protecting her?" Tali piqued up.

Shepard glanced up at her, pausing as he finished putting his pistol back together with a soft click, "Then we shoot them."

Ashley and Wrex smiled.

"Now for the bad news, there are no starports for several thousand light-years, so we're dropping in the Mako," he jerked his head at the vehicle behind him, "Not to mention that the nearest viable drop zone is several klicks away from the ruins."

"Any questions so far?"

Wrex piped up, "So what _are _we going to do about the asari?"

Shepard met the krogans wide-set eyes as best he could, "We're not going to shoot her on sight if that's what you're asking," a look crossed his face that Shepard would bet money was disappointment, "The objective is to get her back on the Normandy with as few dents and scratches as possible."

Smiles at this comment, and he guessed that Tali was smiling as well though he couldn't be sure.

"Now, I chose the three of you for a reason. Wrex, you'll be comfortable in this environment and with your considerably greater mass you have less to worry about the biotics that asari are famous for. You are point."

"So… I'm just a bullet sponge..."

"A bullet sponge with a shot-gun and biotics of his own, but yes. Focus on keeping Fire off of Tali, then me before you take any for Ash. Excuse me if I'm not exactly comfortable with our lack of armor. Stick with your shotgun unless something else comes up."

"Tali, your main job is to keep the Mako running and if we have to get out you are going to stay with the vehicle," his hand shot up to halt her protest, "**Because**, I want someone to stay with the Mako to ensure that our exit route isn't compromised, and to provide cover fire if we have to retreat back to the Mako. You are easily the best for the job." If Shepard was reading quarian body language right, she was embarrassed, "If the Mako is compromised and you get stuck with us on foot, your job is first to bring down any hostiles' shields and weapons, then provide covering fire for Wrex and Ash."

"Williams, you're fire support. If something shoots at Wrex, you shoot it. You have leave to use whatever means necessary to take any hostile targets down," a grin had slowly been forming on her face, now it was a full blown smile, "If at all possible, match my targets or Wrex's, we want to bring down enemies as quickly as possible in any situation."

"Finally there's me. I'm going to toss any hostiles around to keep them from shooting at us and break down any equipment they have. In short, I'm going to make your jobs easier," he nodded at Wrex and Ashley.

The nearby console beeped and Joker's voice came through, "We'll be entering the atmosphere in five minutes, be ready for the drop sir."

Shepard holstered his pistol and stood, "Alright. Let's go."

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He had been right… this planet _was_ uncomfortably hot. And Wrex was as gay as a blue-jay… for him at least.

Even as the shore party stepped out of the Mako due to a blasted pair of boulders blocking the way, Shepard still didn't feel as if the geth were protecting Dr. T'Soni.

Shepard waved Wrex and Ashley to stay behind the boulders and crept forward; his sniper rifle resting easy in his hands.

This area was prime ambush material, and the Geth seemed to love ambushes; he linked the rifles scope to his H.U.D. and edged the gun out around the edge of the boulder he was hiding behind.

And lo and behold! Geth.

Shepard eased down to the hot rocks and scooched over till only the side of his head, gun, arm, and part of his shoulder peeked out from behind his cover.

He practiced going back and forth between the available targets several times before keying in the assassination protocols on the rifle, sighting the first target (damned rocket troopers), and taking a deep breath.

The rifle kicked and the hood of the red geth ceased to exist.

Shepard swung the barrel over and down, the sights landing on a white shock trooper just as its flashlight eye landed on him.

The rifle kicked again and a hyper-accelerated round punched a hole the size of Shepard's fist through the geth's neck.

As the rounds began to rain around his position, Shepard ducked behind the rock and slipped his sniper rifle into its magnetic holster, then reached up and keyed his com, "Williams, Wrex… in case you can't already tell, I just kicked up a geth nest… so if you would kindly get your asses over here and help me out I would be _ever_ so grateful."

A particularly fast and large mass-accelerated round blew out a chunk of rock beside his head, _'Well damn… didn't see a sniper… must've been hiding…'_

At this point his two squadmates came rushing over, heavily armed and armored as bullets whizzed over Shepard's head at them.

Shepard pointed at Wrex and jerked his thumb at an outcropping closer to the geth's position.

The krogan dashed over and took cover, with little shielding left Shepard noted on his H.U.D., even as Ash dropped into a crouch beside him.

"Sir, what's the plan?"

Another sniper round tore through the rock, this time closer to his head, _'Almost 17 seconds? Good shot, bad rifle.'_ "Well…" Shepard drawled out before edging up and peeking over the boulder they hid behind, he ducked back down just before the boulder got a complimentary geth haircut, "I'm going to toss a tech mine over this here rock, and once it goes off," he pulled his assault rifle from it's holster and pulled it to his shoulder as it expanded, "We're going to shoot everything that moves on the other side of this rock… except for Wrex of course…"

He glanced over at her, "Sound good?"

She blinked for a moment before grinning, then the grin became a small scowl, "What about Wrex? How will he know when…?"

Shepard leaned out a bit; then shouted, "Hey Wrex! When I give the HI sign we're going to shoot the geth!"

Wrex grunted.

"That means 'yes sir'," Shepard said solemnly to his hiding companion, who was now stifling snickers.

A few moments passed with the geth raining fire on their position before his companion spoke up, "What are we waiting for?"

A sniper bullet tore through the rock, inches from Shepard's head, "That."

He stood and turned, firing the tech-mine with practiced precision, watching it explode in the midst of three geth with a crackle and a boom.

Wrex burst from his cover, running straight at the geth and firing all the way as Ashley and Shepard hosed them with rounds.

It was over in four seconds.

The two humans jogged up beside the krogan, at which point Shepard checked the map uploaded into his suit, "Well-"

The characteristic binary sound of a geth battle cry cut off whatever the Commander was going to say and sent him diving for the relative cover of a nearby low outcropping.

His companions reacted similarly, if a little slower, and caught the fringes of a rocket aimed at where they had been moments before.

The two of them ducked under the cover opposite Shepard, both with some colorful curses in their respective languages. Their Commander slowly edged out and glanced at the group shooting and them, ducking back behind cover as a rocket passed through where his face had been.

Shepard raised his voice some to be heard over the constant gunfire, "Wrex, you're going to throw up a barrier around yourself and charge in, have fun! Williams, covering fire! Focus on the sniper and rocket junky up there! I'm going to toss a singularity down there and keep them off of us! On three!"

The man swapped out the clumsy assault rifle for his trusty pistol, "One!" he focused, clenching his fist and almost pulling the kinetic barriers around him, "Two!" he clenched his left arm tightly, building the necessary charge to throw a singularity as far as needed, "Three!"

Shepard spun out of cover, dropping the mass-increasing singularity right in the middle of the most bodies on reflex and watched with satisfaction as a number of get started to orbit the small blue sun.

A part of his brain noted that Wrex gleefully dove into the mass of geth, caught up in the singularity as well, firing and swinging his shotgun at everything that moved. And that Ash had popped up and was firing continuously at the cliff ahead of them.

But Shepard's mind was focused on the rocket streaking towards them as he brought his arm up again and reflexively tossed a small bubble of force into the rocket, detonating it prematurely.

Noting the read beam on his chest, Shepard brought up his pistol and he started to move, firing into the floating mass of geth still held by his singularity.

His mental countdown finished and the geth fell to the ground as the singularity faded. Shepard palmed a tech mine and almost tossed it into the fray before noticing that only one of the synthetics was even trying to get up, which their krogan backup simply walked over to, planted a foot on its chest, and blew the poor things hooded head right off.

Shepard glanced over at Ash, who gave him a thumbs-up, "Sniper's down sir."

"Well that's good," he rolled his shoulder, his nerves protesting as always at the repeated use of biotics, "We don't have to worry about getting shot in the face for a while."

The three of them headed up the slopes, wary, until they finally came within sight of the main entrance of the ruins. Shepard was still scanning the area for threats when his personal radar suddenly flashed red, the words **JAMMED **bolded across it.

Movement caught his eyes; a lanky white thing dropped from a beam above and quickly crawled along the ground before bounding off.

There was nowhere near enough time to get his gun up on the thing, but head had enough to recognize the hooded head of a geth.

The loud drone of a ship caught his attention and he looked up in time to see a number of objects drop from a geth dropship that had just flown overhead.

As the dust cleared, his eyes widened and he shoved Ashley and Wrex out of the way as the armature unfolded.

The two of them stumbled over, behind the wall that separated the area, just as the accelerated rounds began to rain down around them.

Shepard jerked back, diving behind one of the large crates in the area.

He glanced at his H.U.D. and almost swore; those few seconds under the armatures _**light**_ arsenal had almost eliminated his shields!

Then the crate shook with the force of the things main cannon, "Williams, Wrex, deal with those damn hopping things would you?" he forced calm onto his voice. He wasn't scared, not really, but he sure as hell was irritated.

A new kind of geth _and _an armature to deal with... without the Mako…

Great.

"Damn things move a lot…" That would be Wrex, grumbling about whatever those hopping geth were.

Shepard palmed a grenade, reviewing the positions of the geth that had dropped in his head, two black ones, the armature obviously-

There was a shotgun blast followed by the death scream of a geth; and Shepard's screen cleared.

Oh yes, and that shock trooper sneaking up on him from the right.

He idly chucked the grenade over to the side and watched with satisfaction as it landed at the feet of the white geth just as it rounded the edge of the crate.

He then detonated the grenade and watched with even more satisfaction as the geth went flying up into the air, only to land 'face-first' right beside him.

As it struggled to get up, Shepard idly reached over, put the barrel of his pistol within its shielding limit, and blew the 'blue box' that served as it's brain right out of its flashlight head.

As he settled back into a crouch under his cover, the crate shook with the force of the armature's main cannon slamming into it once again.

Shepard started counting idly in the back of his head as he keyed his com to be easily heard over the occasional blast from the two remaining snipers and the almost constant fire from the armatures smaller gun.

"Williams, switch to your sniper rifle and peak out from cover, take care of the sniper to the right of the armature, Wrex, can you toss the other off into the lava?"

A grunt.

"Good enough," he started to make himself comfortable, "Take your time."

Shepard watched out of the corner of his eye as his companions preformed perfectly; Ash blew the top of the geth's head clean off; moments later Wrex biotically threw the other sniper geth right into the armatures 'face', where it was cleanly blown away.

The armature began to open fire on the Commanders position with renewed vigor, firing its guns almost constantly.

"Good… now just sit tight."

"Sir-?"

The Spectre plopped down onto his behind, then reached into one of the few pouches on the skintight armor, and pulled out a granola bar.

The human and krogan stared as the Commander as he set aside his pistol and idly unwrapped the snack even as the mass-accelerated rounds began to break off pieces of the crate protecting him.

He began to munch away as the geth equivalent of a tank continued to fire on his position.

The Spectre popped the last bite into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. He examined his fingers as if considering licking them clean.

A blast from the armature took off the corner of Shepard's crate.

Deciding against licking his armor after being in this environment, he activated his omni-tool and set several tech mines into its modified launcher, then idly palmed a pair of grenades, an incendiary and a high explosive.

The next blast from the armatures main cannon visibly cracked what was left of the crate.

This snapped Ashley out of her stupefied daze, "Commander-!"

As she started to speak, there was a pause in the armatures smaller gunfire. In one swift movement, Shepard spun out of cover, fired a pair of tech mines into the armature, and tossed one, then two grenades after them. The mines detonated in a blast of blue electricity as the Spectre threw his arm forward and seemed to throw an impossibly fast blue fog at the armature. The fog slammed into the still sparking geth, then the Commander thumbed his omni-tool.

When the dust settled, figuratively and literally, the armature was left without its hooded head and a mass of melted slag for its main body.

This took all the time it took the Gunnery Chief to say 'Commander-!'

Shepard picked up his pistol, examined it, thumped it once to nock a pebble loose, then holstered it, "Well. That takes care of that."

"...hmph… not bad…"

Shepard looked up; he hadn't expected the normally blunt and worldly krogan to be impressed by that, Ash _maybe_, but not him. And he knew that 'not bad' was about as close to a glowing compliment that Wrex could give.

He glanced over at her; her eyebrows were raised in an expression that somehow was sexy, impressed, and teasing all at once, "Didn't know you had such a good arm… sir."

He rolled his eyes and turned, heading for the entrance to the ruins.

As Wrex and Ashley followed after, the krogan leaned over and whispered as conspiratorially as he could, "I don't know about you, but I'm _glad_ he's on our side."

Williams nodded and whispered back, "No kidding, he's the hero of the Skyllian Blitz, held off several platoons by himself, and later he brought down a thresher maw when it took out his entire unit."

"Both of those?" Wrex was actually surprised at this, "How'd that happen?"

She shrugged slightly, "No one really knows why he did it, but after the Blitz he requested a transfer, it ended with him at Akuze… I personally think that he saw things during the Blitz that he wish he hadn't, and wanted to get away from the harsher stuff by going to a quiet unit, but it didn't work out as he planned…"

"Could the two of you at least _try _to keep up?"

Shepard was standing in front of the open mining tunnel and looking back at them.

The two of them started slightly and jogged to catch up with him even as he drew his pistol and headed into the ruins.

"Though seriously sir... a granola bar?"

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A.N.): Okay, I recently got the (in my opinion) unbelievable game Mass Effect. I decided to take a look through the fanfictions and found it sadly lacking. I aim to fix that. And to those who are disappointed in my lack of updates in the Naruto department, I'm sorry. My computer is exceedingly dead and everything for my Naruto fanfics is on there. I'm doing these on another computer, but I'll eventually be able to get back to Kisses from a Rose.


	2. Well, that was fun

As Shepard slowly walked down the mining shaft, his feeling of unease grew. He waved his two companions to a halt and drew his pistol.

He eased down the long hall quietly, the area at the end of this tunnel was definitely a kill zone, if there was an ambush set up down there…

He edged up to the lip of the tunnel, his radar painted three red dots within its range, but the various elevations of the cavern meant they could be almost anywhere.

He carefully peeked out of the tunnel, and ended up face to 'face' (eye really) with a stark white shock trooper.

Neither of them moved, Shepard could pull his pistol up and take out the geth in only 1.34 seconds from this position, he was sure of it.

But, taking into account processing speed and their synthetic nature, this shock trooper could bring up its shotgun and blow out his guts in only eight tenths of a second.

_**If **_the troopers gun was out.

If its gun wasn't out, it would take approximately five seconds to get it out and fire.

Either way… why hadn't it attacked?

Because… because it didn't know whether _his _gun was out or not!

He could draw his pistol and fire faster than the geth could draw its shotgun, and if his gun had been somewhere else, could shoot the trooper before it reacted.

The Spectre and geth had run into each other, and a stalemate.

_So…_ was its gun out?

The organic and synthetic both slowly looked down at the space between them.

There was Shepard's pistol in his hand, and the geth's empty hands.

The two of them met each others 'gaze' once again.

As the geth slowly reached around with its left hand to grab the barrel of its shotgun, Shepard raised his pistol to its eye. The white geth stood straighter, almost proud as it held its shotgun before it and its hooded head high.

"May you find peace," Shepard squeezed the trigger.

As the synthetic form crumpled Ashley and Wrex hurried up beside the Commander, "Sir! Are you alright?"

"I'll be-" he froze, then grabbed the Gunnery Chiefs arm and yanked her back against the wall of the tunnel just as a molten mass of metal flew through the air where she had been.

"Wrex."

"Hm?"

"Keep Williams here for just a second."

"Commander?"

The first human Spectre let go of her and ran out of the tunnel, the distorted blue of a biotic field surround him as he ran forward, the leapt over the railing.

"Commander!" Ash almost ran after him, only to run into the considerable bulk of the krogan.

"Damnit Wrex! He's going to get himself killed!" the amphibian sidestepped with the gunnery chief each time she tried to get around him, even as the sound of gunfire reached them.

The loud _THOOM _of the Commander's sniper rifle silenced her and the last of the gunshots.

"Okay! We're good. There's an elevator down here, three guesses where we have to go, and the first two don't count!"

Wrex looked at the Gunnery Chief for several seconds, "So… you thought _that_ guy would get himself killed?"

She flushed with embarrassment as she followed the krogan down and around the grating to the lower level to join the Commander in the elevator and ride it down.

Shepard pulled out his sniper rifle as they stepped off of the elevator, shouldering the heavily modified piece of equipment as his companions drew their weapons as well.

"Sterile white… protheans sure build things homey."

A half dozen red blips appeared on the Commanders radar, "Oh look, the welcoming committee."

* * *

Shepard kicked the assault drone's fried husk aside, "I think I'm going to file a complaint, they didn't even offer to carry my bags."

Ashley shook her head as the three of them got into the second elevator of the day.

The doors closed and the elevator began to move, all was as right with the world as could be expected, till the metal box began to spark and shake. It finally groaned to a halt where it was supposed to, and the doors tried to open, emphasis on tried.

"Well… that's just great…" Shepard holstered his rifle, "I'll heave on the left, Ash take the right, you've got the middle Wrex."

The humans grabbed the sides of the partially opened door as Wrex squeezed in, crouched down, and put his armored hump under the upper part of the door.

Shepard raised a brow at the krogan, "Ooookay… on three. One, two, three."

The marines heaved, Wrex just stood up, and lo and behold, the door was open.

Shepard cracked his knuckles some, stepping out of the elevator and casting a glance back at his krogan companion, "I hate how you can do that."

All he got was a wry grin.

"Uh... hello? Is someone there?"

That got Shepard's attention.

He turned and hurried to the edge of the torn grating, glancing down he hopped off to the level below.

He turned, and there, behind the barrier, suspended in midair, was Liara T'Soni.

As he approached, she shouted out, "Can you hear me out there? I am trapped. I need help!"

He walked up, idly noting the thumps as his two companions followed after him, "Dr. T'Soni I presume...are you alright?"

The asari's voice was warbled some through the barrier and whatever was holding her, "Oh thank the goddess, I did not think anyone was going to come after me."

"Listen. This thing I am in is a Prothean security device. I cannot move so... I need you to get me out of here. All right?"

"I have been trapped in here for days, and the geth have been trying to get to me! Can you believe that? Geth, beyond the veil!"

Shepard stepped up to the barrier and lightly thumped it, unsurprised when his knuckles stung, "This repulsion field will make it hard... it's pretty strong, so how'd you end up in there?"

"When the geth started to come after me, I activated the barrier curtains, I knew they would keep the geth out…" the asari looked away, obviously embarrassed, "But it seems when I did, I hit something I wasn't supposed to," she began to get more frantic, "I was trapped in here... you must get me out!Please!"

"Calm down, we'll get you out, do you have any idea where to start?"

"There's a control in here thatdeactivate this thing… but... you'll have to find some way past the barrier...that's the tricky part, I don't know how you will get in here..."

"Don't worry, I'll figure something out."

"There is something else; there is a krogan with the geth. Please be careful, they have been trying different ways of getting past the barrier."

He smiled some, hidden beneath the seal of his suit, "Don't worry, we'll try not to get killed," with that he turned around and drew his sniper rifle, "Come on, I doubt we've seen the last of the geth here."

"Aye aye sir."

Shepard started to head down the grating to his left, but froze, his brow wrinkling as he looked out into the cavern below.

"Ash, Wrex, head on without me, but go slow… I think I'm going to soften up the opposition just a bit before I join you…"

The krogan and human glanced at each other before they headed down the walkway, drawing their shotgun and assault rifle respectively.

The human Spectre crouched, raising the scope to his eye and activating its zoom. He swept the area and counted…

One, two, three, four… five geth. Two troopers, a sniper, and two of those blasted shock troopers.

He keyed in the assassination protocols on his rifle, threw up a biotic barrier with a reflexive motion, sighted the hooded head of the further of the two shock troopers.

He took a deep breath and held it.

_**THOOM **__-__THOOM_

Shepard held his gun steady as his trigger hand flew up, opened the heat valve to let the super-heated air blast out, closed it, and returned to the trigger all in one smooth motion.

He swung his sights up onto the sniper as it locked onto his position and squeezed the trigger.

_THOOM_

He pulled his gun over and up as rounds began to thump into his kinetic barrier, the two troopers had moved closer together.

_THOOM - - THOOM_

His trigger hand flew once again, super-heated air blasted forth from the gun and the heat gauge on his H.U.D. plummeted.

He swung the gun down to find the final Shock trooper trading shots with his squad mates.

He squeezed the trigger and watched with satisfaction as the synthetics head ceased to exist.

He let out his breath, and lowered his gun.

* * *

I could not help myself, I blushed. That had been impressive.

I knew for a fact that there were at least five of those geth down there, and he had taken them all out in what I hypothesized to be ten seconds. That was an average of one per two seconds.

I blushed an even deeper blue when my savior had stood up and smiled back at her with some form of comment like 'Be right back.'

I could hardly move while suspended in this mass effect field, it was an effort to even move my head.

Questions raced through my mind. Who was that human? Why was he here for me? Why did _he _have a krogan with him?

The cavern shook, though I did not move in my prison.

It appeared I had another question: What was that?

As I mulled this over she could hear the whir of long unused machines coming to life, followed by the sounds of something metal locking into place.

I could hear footsteps behind me and wrenched my head over my shoulder to see, it was the human and his two companions, though I still could not see them well enough to get what he looked like, "Oh, how did you get in here? I didn't think there was any way past the barrier…" I trailed off.

I could see him shrug out of the corner of her eye, "I found a bigger gun, but we need to get you out of here before more geth arrive."

I let my head return to its normal position, "Yes, of course," I looked over at the console to my left, "That console over there should shut down the containment field."

"Hold on Commander, her mother is working with Saren, are you sure we can trust her?"

A definitively female voice, and she thought that I was working with Saren! "I am not my mother! I don't even-" I stifled the thought before it could finish, "I don't want anything to do with that turian bastard!"

My savior, the human, spoke up again, "I don't think she would have to hide from the geth behind barrier curtains if she was working with Saren."

My savior, a man I noted, now that he had walked to where I could see him better, moved over to the console. He activated it and seemed to search the display for a moment before touching one of the holographic buttons.

I suddenly fell to the ground and let out a small sound despite myself.

As I tried to stand I noticed an armored hand beside me, I followed it up to see that it was my savior, offering a hand to help me up.

I took it and let him haul me to my feet.

The krogan with him spoke up, "Any idea how we get out of this place?"

He was addressing me, "T-There is an elevator at the center of the tower, at least… I think it is an elevator. It should take us out of here, come on."

I walked with them back to the platform, my mind frantically working once more to understand why I was here... and now I had someone to ask. When they stopped on the platform, I spoke up, "I still cannot believe all of this... why would the geth come after me? Do you think Benezia's involved?"

The female human with my savior spoke up, "Saren's searching for the Conduit, think fast Miss prothean expert."

The Conduit? "The Conduit? But I don't know-?" The cavern shook, a deep rumble that I could feel in my torso.

"These ruins are not stable, that mining laser must have triggered a seismic event." I moved over to the console and began, carefully, keying in the sequence to set the elevator into motion, "We have to hurry. the whole place is caving in."

My savior seemed to key his com, "Joker, lock in on my coordinates and get over here. On the double mister!"

I could hear this 'Joker's' reply, muffled though it was, "The Normandy is secure and aweigh, ETA, eight minutes."

The female spoke softly, "It's going to be close skipper..." Soon followed by the krogan, "If I die in here, I'll kill him."

I ignored the paradox of this statement as the elevator started to rise, he was a krogan.

As the elevator rose at an agonizingly slow pace, I took a moment to actually look at my savior. He was clad in dull green armor, after a moment I realized that it was actually light Colossus armor in a different shade. His form was lean, almost thin; yet I knew he was stronger than his form would suggest, he had lifted me with apparent ease. I could not see his face, he had opted to seal his suit against the uncomfortable environment, but it meant that I could not see any more of his face but his piercing green eyes.

I surprised myself, I actually wanted to see this human's face… it was likely just a brief infatuation because he was saving me from the geth.

As the elevator ground to a halt and locked itself into place, the krogan I had seen stalked forward, accompanied by several geth.

* * *

Shepard sighed, as the krogan began to speak, "Surrender. Or don't. That would be more fun."

"We don't have time for this," the Spectre glared at the krogan, unsurprised when the amphibian refused to move, "Kill the idiot."

The krogan snorted, "Heh, I like your sty-"

Shepard had opted out of drawing his gun in favor of tossing a mass effect field into the krogans face, the backwash knocking the geth with him down as well.

As his companions scurried to get their weapons out Shepard palmed a grenade even as he tensed up his arm.

A the krogan and its lackeys tried to stand, the Spectre dropped a singularity right in the middle of them and watched with a sense of satisfaction as the imbeciles began to orbit the blue sun.

He launched a pair of tech mines into the tangle of bodies, followed by the grenade. He thumbed the trigger and watched the explosion spray them with thorium paste.

As half the geth burned into cinders, the singularity faded, and the krogan stood up; Shepard drew his pistol, and in unison with his two companions, unloaded into them.

When the last of them had fallen, Shepard walked up to the krogan and put several more rounds into his head.

He looked back at Wrex, "It's nothing personal, but your people have a nasty habit of getting back up."

The krogan smiled.

"Now come on, let's get out of here," Shepard had to raise his voice as he went on, the rumble of the collapse was getting louder and louder.

The four of them ran up to the barrier and jerked to a halt as it suddenly failed, a particularly large boulder landing just outside of the hall, sending gravel and dirt into the area.

Shepard was the only one in the group with his helmet sealed; he didn't need to cover his face from the dust. It was obvious that the cavern was collapsing, and fast.

"Come on! Move! Move! Move!"

He grabbed a hold of Ashley and Liara, almost throwing them forward, happy when his guess about krogan survival instincts was right and Wrex started sprinting out as well.

"Go! Go! Go!" Shepard ran after his squad and the asari, dodging rocks as the ruins collapsed around them.

A rock bounced off of one of the stone walls and smacked into Liara's shoulder, knocking her over.

Shepard didn't think, he stooped over and grabbed onto her, yanking her up off of the ground and running on.

The next thing he was consciously aware of was being stooped over outside of the mine, half supporting, half being supported by Liara.

All four of them were completely out of breath, dirty, with dents and scratches in their armor, and Liara with a bruised shoulder.

"Well… that was exciting, wasn't it?"

* * *

A.N.) Alright, after this chapter we're going to start to get more into why this story is named this way, sorry if it doesn't make much sense yet, but it will. And in case anyone starts wondering, this Shepard (You'll find out his first name later!) is a variation of a Sentinel. Swap out stasis for singularity and a bonus talent of sniper rifles and you've got the basic idea.

Oh, and Nvrmore, thank you very much. That's exactly what I'm going for. Though you misunderstand on a point, I've already beat the game several times and ways, this is just my take on it.

And thanks for the compliment Eilanne.


	3. Everybody Wins Sorta

It had taken a grand total of 15 minutes to get themselves and the Mako off that planet and onto the Normandy.

A quarter of an hour to pull himself out of his armor; to trade several inches of ceramic, kinetic padding, and his suits kinetic shielding, for the several feet of high strength battle-plate of the Normandy.

900 seconds to store his customized sniper rifle, built from masses of omni-gel and upgrades but little else, to put away his high end, modified, prototype HMWSR X pistol; and rely on Joker, the best helmsman in the entire Alliance fleet.

Fifteen minutes to switch out his combat inhibitor, for his biotic nullifier, and hope to whatever is out there that the Normandy's kinetic barriers hold.

He hated this.

He trusted Joker explicitly. The man was egotistical, snarky, and cynical… but Shepard knew a master when he saw one. They were the people who could pull off those zen-moments without even thinking about it, the ones who did their job, their art, their duty, with an off-handed ease and still be far above average. Joker was one of those people when it came to flying.

The Normandy was probably the most advanced, up to date, safest ship in citadel space. Not just Alliance vessel, but all citadel vessels.

That didn't mean he felt safe.

The first, and currently only human Spectre, tugged his boots on and double-knotted the laces. As he always did. Just to be safe.

He strode out of his quarters, his head held high and his back straight. He was the 'Captain' of this ship, and he would act like it. Because that's what he should do.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111

I felt uncomfortable where I sat.

This… com room, was not uncomfortable, the walls were as comforting as steel could be, the chair was soft and adjusted to my form…

But the looks the rest of the crew here was giving me… they made me very… uneasy.

They weren't doing it on purpose, at least, all but the krogan weren't. It was only sidelong glances, furrowed brows, raised cheek flaps on the turian, the way the quarian had pulled herself inwards… though I couldn't decide if those were worse than the krogan beside me with one of his solid red eyes focused solely on me.

I shifted some in my seat, my savior (Commander Mason J. E. Shepard of the Citadel Special Tactics and Reconnaissance as I'd been informed), had yet to enter the room, though it seemed that the rest of the major members of the crew were present.

The doors hissed open and I looked up, trying to restrain the eagerness in the action. Insofar, the Commander was the only one who had treated me with any form of trust, I could not help but hope…

It was him.

I blinked. I shouldn't have known that so easily. It could be simply another officer to join the meeting that was a bit late. It could be that the Commander wasn't going to take the last open seat but stand during the debriefing. Logic dictated…

But as his eyes swept over the crew, intense and emerald green, a color not naturally found amongst the asari, or even the salarians... as everyone stiffened slightly when he entered, sat straighter, more exact… the way all eyes were on him, even the krogans… I just knew.

His eyes finally landed on me, I could feel my hands clutch at the pants of my outfit, my mouth opening to say something, anything…

Then he smiled.

The tension in the room evaporated as if it had never been as he walked over to the seat across the room, directly opposite of me.

He reclined in the chair, leaning back as far as it would go, letting his legs lie straight and crossing his ankles, lacing his fingers together over his stomach he swept his eyes over us again with a raised brow. His posture simply screamed '_I'm_ perfectly relaxed and at ease, what's wrong with all of you?'

After several seconds, he reached over and lightly tapped a button on the arm of his chair, "Joker? Any comments?"

"Well… I'd say it was a _bit_ _**too**_ close Commander. Ten more seconds and we'd have been swimming in molten sulfur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to _fry _our sensors and melt our hull… just for future reference."

I blinked confusedly even as my savior shook his head and smiled, "We almost died out there and your pilot is making jokes?"

He looked over at me, "Joker just got us out of there, he's got a right to a couple bad jokes…" His smile faded just a bit and the Commander shrugged, "Besides… it's his way of coping."

"I see… It must be a human thing… I don't have much experience with your species Commander," Something that was unfortunately true even now, "But I am grateful to you. You saved my life back there, and not just from the volcano. Those geth would have killed me or dragged me off to Saren."

The only other human male in the room spoke, "What did Saren want with you? Do you know something about the Conduit?"

"Only that it was somehow connected to the Prothean extinction. That is my real area of expertise. I have spent the past fifty years trying to figure out what happened to them."

"Wait," the female who had accompanied the Commander interrupted my thoughts, "Fifty years? How old are you exactly?"

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably, "I hate to admit it but I am only a hundred and six."

"Daamn, I hope I look that good when I'm your age."

I was not comfortable with letting that go as it was, "A century may seem like a long time to a short lived species like yours, but among the asari, I am barely more than a child," I noted her eye roll at my comment but ignored it, "That is why my research has not received the attention it deserves. Because of my youth, other asari scholars tend to dismiss my theories on what happened to the Protheans."

The Commander sat up, the chair creaking slightly as he did, and the room fell silent. His hands steepled, his emerald eyes gazing straight at me. He let the silence hang for a moment more before speaking, "Dr. T'Soni, I feel I just might know what caused the prothean's extinction."

That startled me, "I'm sorry, but with all due respect Commander, I have heard every theory out there. The problem is finding evidence to support them. The Protheans left remarkably little behind," I followed that vein of thought, beginning to feel comfortable and in my element, "It is almost as if someone did not want the mystery solved. It's like someone came along after the Protheans were gone and cleansed the galaxy of clues. But here is the incredible part: According to my findings, the Protheans were not the first galactic civilization to mysteriously vanish. The cycle began long before them."

The lone quarian in the room spoke up, "Wait a second, I thought there wasn't any evidence…"

It was a good point, but I had an answer, "I have been working on this for fifty years. I have tracked down every scrap and shred of evidence. Eventually, subtle patterns start to emerge. Patterns that hint at the truth…" I trailed off for a moment, trying hard to put what I knew into words, "It is… difficult to explain to someone else. I cannot point to one specific thing to prove my case. It is more a feeling derived from a half century of dedicated research…"

"But I _know _I am right. And eventually, I'll be able to prove it. There were other civilizations before the Protheans. This cycle has repeated itself many times over."

The turian was the one to inquire this time, "If the protheans weren't the first, then who was?"

"I don't know. There is barely any evidence on the Protheans. Even less on those who came before them. I cannot prove my theory but I know I am right!"

"The galaxy is built on a cycle of extinction, each time a great civilization rises up, it is suddenly and violently cast down. Only ruins survive."

"The Protheans rose up from a single world until their empire spanned the entire galaxy. Yet even they climbed on top of the remains of those who came before. And then, like all the other civilizations throughout galactic history, the protheans disappeared. I have dedicated my life to finding out why."

The Commander spoke after a moments pause, "They were wiped out by a sentient race of machines, called the Reapers."

"T-The Reapers-? But I've never heard of-" A very large part of me doubted that the Commander was the type of person to make fun of my ideas, tease me, or even begin to offer an _theory_ on how the Protheans disappeared, let alone say he might know, "How do you know this? What evidence do you have to support it?"

"Not too long ago I encountered prothean technology, a… beacon of sorts, it burned images into my brain."

"A beacon…?" I searched my mind as quickly as I could, "Yes, of course, the beacons were designed to transmit information directly into the mind of the user… Finding one that still works is extremely rare."

If that had been on Eden Prime… "Now wonder the geth attacked Eden Prime. The chance to aqquire a working beacon, even a badly damaged one, is worth almost any risk."

A thought occurred to me, "But… the beacons were only programmed to interact with prothean physiology… whatever information you received would've been confused," I searched for a word that could express it, "unclear…"

My respect for my savior had risen even higher, "I am amazed you were able to make any sense of it at all. A lesser mind would have been utterly destroyed by the process… you must be extraordinarily strong-willed Commander…"

The human woman spoke up harshly, "Yeah, well, this isn't helping us find the Conduit or Saren."

I was reminded yet again why I preffered digs to actual interaction, "Of course. You are right. I am sorry; my scientific curiosity got the better of me. Unfortunately I do not have any information that could help you find the Conduit, or Saren."

"Well, regardless," Shepard stood, "I don't think it would be smart to leave you somewhere Saren could find you."

I couldn't help myself, I smiled and stood as well, "Thank you Commander. You are right, Saren might come after me again. I cannot think of anywhere safer than _here_, on _your _ship," I almost slapped myself, and thanked the Goddess I wasn't blushing, I should not have emphasized those words like that, nor have gotten this close, "And my knowledge of the Protheans may be useful later on."

The krogan, now behind me, spoke up in his deep bass, "And her biotics will come in handy when the fighting starts."

Shepard smiled some, "Good. Everybody wins," he paused for a moment and a comically pensive expression crossed his face, "Well… except Saren. He's going to get his ass kicked."

* * *

A.N.): Alrighty! It might be a while before I can update again. I don't know how long. Just thought I'd give you all fair warning.

YamiDchan: Thank you so freaking much! I started to write her part in third person, decided it didn't work, and switched to first. But I missed that! Thank you! And blast, you caught me, yes, it's going to be a Mshepard/Liara story. There are going to be other pairings but that's the main one.

Bandgsecurtiyaw: Thanks for the review!


	4. The Scars We See

fI was much more comfortable now.

The chair I sat in was much the same as the one I had sat in during the debriefing, but now there were no eyes studying me. No eyes searching me for any suspicious actions.

Dr. Chakwas had been very kind to me; not only had she set me up at a terminal behind the medical labs, but she had soon brought me a sizable tray of food, which now lay empty beside the terminal.

My exhaustion in the com-room turned out to be mostly from lack of food, as I had suspected. I had been taking naps during the days I had been trapped. Short, fitful, and terrifying naps, but naps none the less.

I could hear the door to my little room open… funny, how I'd been here for maybe an hour and I still considered it _my _room.

I turned to assure the doctor that I would take the tray in to be cleaned, and I froze.

In walked the Commander.

After the several seconds it took to process this information I started to stand. Only to be waved back down into my seat.

His arm twitched and a folding chair flew into his open hand from its place on top of the crates, he snapped in open, spun it behind him, and… flopped was the only word for it, flopped into the chair.

He eased back, exhaustion seeming to radiate off of him as he leaned back and closed his eyes, his hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

We spent several moments like that, with me staring at him like a fool and trying to think of something to say as he almost lay in the chair in the room with me, I was finally working up something to say when he spoke, his voice coming out almost as a groan, "Paperwork is a bitch."

Once again, I froze; I could feel my brow crease as I tried to puzzle out what he was talking about, "Commander…?"

He cracked open one of those striking green eyes of his, from this angle, it almost appeared as if his eye was a pool of molten jade… I started to wonder how people worked while he looked at them when I realized I had been staring at his eye for almost a minute now.

I jerked a bit at this realization and flushed just a little, apparently Shepard took this as a sign I would actually hear him when he spoke, "After every mission or assignment I complete, I have to submit a report to the Alliance military, the Council, and stand by for a debriefing from the council personally due to my Spectre status… and to top it all off, I have to account for the destruction of those ruins in the paperwork…" he winced at that, "Which accounts for almost twelve more full pages each in of itself…"

"Commander… I…" _'How do you reply to that!?'_ "I'm sorry that you had to go through so much trouble for my sake…" I trailed off when he closed his eye again and waved his hand some, almost brushing off my concerns.

"It's nothing. I got you and my team out safe and almost completely unharmed, that's what matters. The paperwork is just a necessary evil…" as he talked, his voice deep but soft, his one hand remained at his nose, attempting to massage away his apparent headache, his other was moving in the air… 'talking with his hands' I believe it was called, "… doesn't mean I have to like it…"

He sighed, and it was almost as if he deflated, he suddenly seemed smaller… weaker… more vulnerable… it took me a second to realize that he had just let all of the tension flow out of his body, that he had stopped holding himself so tall and strong… then he took a deep breath and ran both his hands through his hair, and suddenly he was my savior again, strong, confident, and unstoppable.

"Anyways, I just needed to be somewhere quiet for a while… and you don't really seem to be one to shout and yell much… if at all."

I considered speaking but decided against it, and we slipped into a comfortable silence. He said he needed to be somewhere quiet for a while… but we both knew that my new room wasn't the _only_ quiet place on the ship.

So we sat there, in the storage room behind the med labs. I relaxed back into my chair and took the time to actually look at my savior for the first time, to analyze this man touched by working Prothean technology.

With his eyes closed, the first thing I noticed was his hair, it was a dark brown color, the light making some points almost shine a deep red, almost the color of human blood. I assumed it was long for a human, it was the longest of all the humans on the ship that I had seen aside from the Doctors'. It was shorter in the back than it was in the front, almost as iff he had pulled it back when it was longer and cut it.

I shook off my temorary fascination with his hair, it was only because I was just unused to dealing with humans, and they were the only known sentient race with hair.

With that thought, I looked at his face, actually _looked _at it. I'd seen it in the comm room, I knew that, but it had not actually registered what he looked like past those eyes.

I looked, and bit my lip.

He was handsome-

Well, at least by human standards...

...for a white male...

...I guess...

Oh by the Goddess! Why was I so hesitant to admit that I found him attractive?!

Because he's a different species. Because as far as I know we have absolutely nothing in common. Because I don't have any idea what he's really like. Because I know almost nothing about him!

At that moment I could almost hear my mother's voice in my head, _'Then learn more about him!'_

I shook off those thoughts, they weren't helping anyone, and returned my eyes to him.

His skin was pale, easily paler than any of the other humans I had seen on the ship, it was not white... but he certainly did not see much sunlight. My first good memory of him flashed across my mind,of him in his fully sealed enviromental suit, even thought the planet was survivable... how often had he done that?

I noticed something else; suprised, and a little ashamed that I did not see it earlier...

Across his right eye there was a scar, it stretched from his upper forehead, over his eyelid, and curved into the center of his cheek, it was dark, the edges of the scar ragged and almost tattered. It stood out against the almost whiteness of his skin.

My fingers twitched some before I stilled them and supressed the urge to take off one of my gloves and run my fingers along his scar, to see whether it was rough or smooth, whether I could feel the current of his nervous system beneath his skin or if the nerves had been killed by whatever had marked his face...

For scientific curiosity of course! I just... wanted to know.

My eyes trailed across his lips idly as I wondered what could have given him such a horrific scar-

There, trailing from the left corner of his mouth, was another scar.

This one was a thin indentation in his skin, reaching back along his cheek before curving down, dipping into the end of his jaw. Unlike its twin on the other side of his face, this one was well defined, obvious, with smaller lines of scars that bisected it along its length.

It almost seemed as if his someone had tried to widen his smile, cut his cheek completely open, and had messed up... Those little scars made it look like the doctors had to stitch a slit in his face closed like a tear in clothes.

What had done this to him? What had been able to hurt my savior like this?

Now I looked over his face again, looking for signs of old damage. And I saw what I was looking for.

Across the bridge of his nose was a small diagonal scar, his nose itself looked like it had never been broken... but the small, pale yellow scar said something had happened.

There, his right ear, though mostly hidden by his dark hair, had a number of notches along the edge. With my limited medical knowledge I could guess that a glancing round had blown out the side of his helmet, and the shrapnel had taken chunks out of his ear. And even though the ear had healed...

There was another, this one a small, thin triangle of paler flesh on his lip.

And there, probably the worst one aside from the two major ones, a slightly skewed streak of knotted flesh that stretched across his neck, as if someone had tried to slit his throat with a bad knife and missed.

How much had this one man been through? What all could one person do to have so much damage inflicted upon them? I simply could not believe that all of the damage to be seen was on his face.

Should I ask?

Was it right?

What do I say?

As his hands moved up cover his face for just a moment, I noted that there were several small scars on the back of his hands as well.

"Commander...?"

* * *

A.N.): Wow... that came out easier than I thought it would... Anyways, the next chapter is probably a couple days away. On this chapter though, I don't know whether I should take a different approach to it or not. I know I'm usually pretty good at dailogue, but I also know that when it comes to description I sometimes go overboard. I don't know whether or not I did that here... so any comments would be helpful

seezemaru: Thank you, and I see what you're talking about with Tali. But no, she's not feeling insecure, she just doesn't trust Liara at that point, so her body language isn't very 'open' either.

**SORTA IMPORTANT: **I'm running a bit of a poll. SHould I make my chapters for this longer and take longer to review, or should I just keep up the 2,000 word chapters? Please say what you want in your review.


	5. Part of the Job Description

"Commander…?"

His fingers parted so his emerald eyes peeked out at her, "Hm?"

Liara swallowed the momentary nervousness down and spoke, "Are you here to check up on me?"

Shepard's eyes closed once again before he ran his hands through his hair and stretched in his seat, making that small noise that comes with a good stretch.

The Spectre started to speak once he had settled back into his chair, "In a way… yeah… I was coming to check up on you… But when I got in here, you were already looking much better, so I decided I could put it off for just a bit to rest…" he shrugged, then he gave her a slightly concerned look, "How are you feeling?"

The asari smiled, "I appreciate your concern, but Doctor Chakwas assures me I will be fine. I am impressed by her knowledge of asarian physiology."

He smiled, and Liara couldn't help but smile back, "The good doctor is the best in the Alliance, you're in good hands..."

Liara hesitated for just a moment before she spoke again, "I... never properly thanked you for saving me from the geth Commander. If you hadn't shown up..." she trailed off, trying not to contemplate the thought.

Shepard shifted from his almost relaxed position to sit up in his chair, "I'm just glad we got there in time..."

She smiled warmly at him, "So am I."

That wasn't everything though, and she knew it, so the asari continued, "Commander, I know you took a chance bringing me on the Normandy. I've seen the way you crew looks at me. They don't trust me," her voice grew gradually more frantic as she spoke, though she remained quiet, "But I am _not _like Benezia, I will do whatever I can to help you stop Saren. I promise."

The Commander gave her a warm, if small smile, "I know you will Liara, don't worry… I trust you."

"It means a lot to hear you say that Commander," her voice showed her appreciation, "Thank you."

Shepard's eyes widened almost imperceptibly as Liara smiled appreciatively at him, and he could feel a small pang in his heart, a little desire to see that smile again, and to know more about this curious young asari.

After a moment, he decided to give in to that desire, "Why don't you tell me about yourself Liara?"

She was surprised and almost disbelieving, and it showed on her face and in her voice, "Me? I am afraid I'm not very interesting Commander. I spend most of my time on remote digs, unearthing mundane items buried in long forgotten Prothean ruins…"

"Sounds dangerous…" he then added as an afterthought, "And lonely…"

The asari almost happily launched into an explanation, "Sometimes I would run afoul of indeginous life forms, or stumble across a small band of mercenaries or privateers," at the slight concern on his face shed added, "But I was always careful."

"Until the geth followed me to Artemis Tau, I never found myself in a situation my biotics could not handle…"

"As for the solitude…" her voice trailed off for a moment and she looked away, slightly embarrassed, "Well… that was one aspect that most appealed to me. Sometimes, I just need to get away from other people…"

He gave her a very curious look at that, "You don't like other people?"

"I suppose it comes with being a matriarchs daughter... People expected me to follow in her footsteps. They wanted me to be a leader of my people. Matriarchs guide their followers into the future; they seek the truth of what is yet to come. Maybe that is why I became so interested in the secrets of the past..."

"It sounds so foolish when I say it out loud. It sounds like I became an archeologist just to spite Benezia..." she shook her head sadly.

Mason chuckled softly, smiling at her widely, "Every child rebels against their parents at some point or another."

An honest laugh escaped her, "You share the wisdom of the Matriarchs Shepard. That is exactly what Benezia said when I told her my decision."

Liara's smile slowly faded, "But... there was more to it than that. I felt drawn to the past. The Protheans were these wonderous, mysterious figures. I wanted to know everything about them..."

Her cheeks turned a shade darker as she continued, "That is why I find you so fascinating. You were marked by the beacon on Eden Prime, you were touched by working Prothean technology!"

"It almost sounds like you want to dissect me in a lab somewhere," he raised his brows at her and gave her a small smile.

"What!?" Liara's eyes widened, shock and embarassment covering her face, "No! I didn't mean to insinuate--" She cut herself off, "Uh, I never meant to offend you Shepard. I only meant that you would be an interesting specimen for in depth study-- No! That's even worse..."

Shepard smiled, his cheeks tinting a light pink, _"She's so cute when she's embarassed... I'm going to have to do that again sometime..." _The Spectre unconciously brushed his hair behind his scarred ear before he filled the momentary silence, saving her from further embarassment, "Relax Liara... I was only joking..."

"Joking? Oh... by the Goddess! How could I be so dense?" the asarian doctor rapped her kncuckles against her head in reflex, shaking her head at her own foolishness, "You must think I am a complete and utter fool..."

She started to continue, but the commander waved her off, "No... I don't. I actually understand what you're talking about. I'm a sort of freak of nature, in more ways than just the beacon..." it was strange, he felt at ease talking to her about this, he usually didn't even mention things like this, "I've had a number of times where I just want to step out of my body and examine it, try and find out _why_ _**I'm**_ so different from everyone else..."

He shrugged, "Anyways, you're a scientist, being curious is part of the job description," his smile flowed into a cross between a grin and a smirk, "Though you definitely could have said that a whole lot better."

She flushed a deep shade of blue, looking away from him for just a moment, "I guess now you know why I spend so much time at remote digs..." She glanced back up at him, her face still turned mostly away, her own bright blue eyes metting his emerald ones, "I always seem to say something stupid when I'm around people..."

The Commander grinned, "Well, as long as you don't let something classified off the ship, there isn't going to be any problems... aside from you being immensely emarrassed of course..." Liara noted a small sparkle in his eyes as he said that.

She smiled, this time realizing he was teasing her, "I guess so Commander..." the asari, as used to silence as she was, just couldn't let the conversation die out like that, "Was there anything else you needed?"

He smiled and shook his head, almost sadly, "No..." he groaned some as he stood and stretched, "Welll... there's going to be an informal training session in the Mako's loading bay next shift, which is..." he activated his omni-tool for just a moment and glanced at the time, "...aaabouuut, ten hours... I'd appreciate it if you come."

Liara nodded, "I will, since I lack the military training of the rest of your crew I probably need the most help," the corner of her mouth quirked up.

"We'll see."

* * *

A.N.): Alright, here's the plan: after the training sesseion, (which will take up a sizable chapter with any luck,) they'll arrive on Ferros, (which I think will take a chapter, maybe two, depending on how it flows) and then move on to the Bring Down the Sky expansion mission (Which I've wanted to do ever since I got it!! And will probably take a chapter the way I want to do it.) Anyways, the poll is still on about the chapter length, I'll still update about once a week or two, but the chapters would be longer.


	6. Told you so

I stepped out of the elevator into the loading bay, a quick glance around told me I was the last to report for the training session that Shepard had scheduled for today.

Everyone in the room had been waiting for her it seems, Wrex was in his usual spot beside the lockers, looking as intimidating as he could; Garrus and Tali were sitting together on a crate beside the Mako, chatting away quietly; our newest member, Dr. Tsoni, was sitting on another crate on the other side of the Mako, her hands folded in her lap and watching something with a quiet fascination.

My eyes followed her gaze, when I saw what she was looking at so intently I smirked.

The CO and XO were sparring, and they were both pretty good. Not as good as me, but good.

I took the chance to see how they fought before we actually started the training session; I knew from their files that neither of them were exceptional in the hand-to-hand category, but I had never really seen them in action.

The Commander was fast, very fast, his hands struck out at Kaiden in swift strikes and the occasional chop. He didn't use fists, instead he stabbed with straight fingers, struck out with open palms, or chopped with the side of his hand; the strikes usually coming in three's. I guessed it was a variation of the mantis-style of martial arts. Each time he made an attack, he advanced towards Kaiden, trying to push him into the support beam behind him or unbalance him.

But the Lieutenant stood before the strikes like a rock before the storm. He was using the marine hand-to-hand I knew so well, if not as good as I could. He was staying almost entirely defensive, almost out of necessity. The only punches he threw were to keep Shepard from getting too close, and even then Kaiden still took the occasional step back.

From the way they were moving, Kaiden had been knocked on his ass by Shepard a couple times, and I'd be willing to bet it was when he got too close… The lieutenant was not an easy man to shake, and he was avoiding getting within three feet of the Commander like the plague.

Combat assessment done, I took a long moment to appreciate the view of two attractive men sparring with minimal clothing. Kaiden had a nice face, a chiseled body, and a very nice ass too. He had stuck with the tight blue shirt that he usually wore on the ship, but had rolled up his pants to about mid-calf, showing off a little hair-less leg. Not shaved, hairless, definitely because of his ancestry. Made me wonder how little hair he had on his body.

Mason though… some girls would be turned off by those scars, I think they added character, and with those eyes, he definitely beat the lieutenant in the 'cute face' category… but I wasn't really into slim men, he still had the upper-body V that guys get when they work out enough, but he just wasn't as broad as most military guys were at the shoulder. He could still wrap his arms around me without much problem; he just wasn't as wide at the shoulder as say, Alenko.

His sleeveless black shirt was tight enough that I was reminded that he wasn't exactly skinny, just lean. If I cared to (and I sure as hell did) I could watch his muscles shift under his skin and clothes with each movement. His pants had been rolled up as well, and like the lieutenant, he was showing off a bit of hairless leg.

But _unlike _Kaiden, there probably should've been hair on his legs, but even from here I could see large patches of shiny burn scars on his legs, overlapping with some on his left that were the same dark gray as the dark crescent over his eye. I'd bet my ass that he didn't have to shave his legs.

After another quick exchange, Shepard glanced over and noticed me; Kaiden took the opportunity to step closer and swing a punch at him.

The Commander's hand shot out, catching Alenko's forearm even as his leg swept Kaiden's out from under him, and as the lieutenant fell, Shepard's other hand shot out and grabbed the front of his shirt, pushing the larger man to the ground but not letting him slam into the deck.

That left the Commander crouched over Kaiden, one hand pinning Kaiden's arm above his head, the other at the lieutenant's throat.

I blinked a little as Mason helped Kaiden up, _'Okay… the Commander's better than he looks…'_

As the lieutenant rubbed his arm Shepard spoke, "Alright, now that everyone's here, we can actually get started."

We all gathered around him at this point, "Okay, long story and explanation short, we're all good at different things, so we can learn something from training with each other. Here's the set up and plan for today: Garrus, I want you to teach Tali what you know about hand-to-hand," when the turian didn't disagree, the Commander went on, "You have similar enough body structures that she'll benefit a lot more learning your style than from either Ash or Wrex."

"Speaking of whom," he turned to me, "Ash, I want you to fine tune Alenko's style. But," he turned to Wrex, "If you don't object, I want you to join them. I know there isn't anything she can teach you to _use_… but you can learn how a number of humans fight in close quarters."

He snapped back to me, "I _know _Chief, you don't want to trust him completely just yet, but I want you to learn how most Krogan fight from him," I guess it must have shown on my face how little I wanted to do that.

Mason looked back and forth between Wrex and me for a moment, and when no major objections came, he turned to Tsoni, "Liara, for today I'm going to get an idea what your strengths are for myself, so you're with me for today."

"This set up is probably only temporary, everyone's going to eventually work with everyone else to learn from each other, it's not just teacher student here. I'm going to learn things from others as well as teach, and so is everyone else," he swept his eyes over all of us assembled, and I could actually watch as each of us momentarily stiffened under his gaze, "Are there any objections or comments?"

After a quiet moment, he continued, "Good. Then let's get started."

* * *

The Commander had gotten me to change into something lighter than my usual outfit, thankfully one of the several women aboard the Normandy was my size, so I was able to change into a blue shirt and a pair of blue pants several shades darker than my skin.

I had gone back upstairs to change, and when I came back down I found that everyone else had moved on to their various tasks. Gunnery Chief Williams was walking Lieutenant Alenko through a series of movements as Wrex watched; Garrus was correcting Tali on her stance as she held her unloaded gun; I looked around for Shepard and found him off to the side, using his omni-tool to adjust a pistol, a shotgun, assault rifle, and sniper rifle lay beside him.

I walked over to him, standing in front of him awkwardly as he finished up on the gun. Luckily it was only a few more seconds before he slapped a strangely colored clip into the pistol and looked up at me, "Alright, first up is the guns."

He picked up the compacted assault rifle next to him and held it out to me, "First we're going to see how good you are with this."

It was a bit heavy in my hands, but I looked at it curiously, voicing my concerns, "Um… Commander… isn't it unsafe to shoot these weapons inside of the Normandy?"

I looked up to see him setting up a target across the bay; Shepard looked up at me and smirked some. I could feel my cheeks darken a couple shades as he walked over.

He picked up the pistol he had modified without a word, aimed it at his foot and pulled the trigger!

I yelped and almost lunged at Mason to stop him from hurting himself like that, but he held up his other hand and pointed it at his foot. I jerked to a halt and followed his finger; his foot was covered in green, but otherwise unhurt.

"Oh…"

"Exactly. Now, first I want you to take several short, controlled bursts at the target…"

* * *

A little over two hours later, the target was covered in a number of splotches of different colors. And some were, embarrassingly, on the wall behind the target.

The Commander had sat beside me as I had shot at the target from various positions with all of the weapons in turn. He had smiled and encouraged me the entire time, and I'll admit that I needed it. I was being evaluated by the first human Spectre, a living legend, and an exceptionally good shot. I was more than a little nervous.

I had finally finished the testing with the shotgun, the final weapon I had to use, and looked over at him.

He stared at the target for a moment before he turned back to me and held out his hand for the gun, which I handed over happily.

He set the gun down and stood, "Alright, next we'll see how well you don in hand-to-hand. I'm going to assume that you haven't had any actual training…?"

"I never thought I'd be part of an effort to track down a rogue Spectre, just examining Prothean artifacts in ruins… so, no Commander. I have no hand-to-hand training."

"Didn't think so," he walked onto the walkway out of the elevator, where the other two groups were already training, "Come on."

I followed after him and glanced at the others, Vakarian was correcting the Quarian's stance as she held a shotgun not far from us. The Krogan and the Lieutenant were going step by step through some combat motions as Chief Williams walked them through it, they were not far from the hanger bay doors.

A light tap on my shoulder jerked me back to the present situation and made me look back at Shepard embarrassedly; my gaze met a much more serious face and tone, "First rule: Don't lose track of your opponent."

Several minutes and bruises later, the Commander had us stop. He had not been overly harsh with me, nor had he harmed me unnecessarily, but he had not been gentle either. My clumsy attempts at close combat had met swift and decisive retaliation.

I sat down on one of the crates by the Mako, and I could feel the perspiration dripping down my face.

A sound caught my attention and I looked up to see that Mason had gotten me a bottle of water and was holding it out for me.

I hadn't realized how thirsty I was until I had the bottle to my lips and was guzzling it down. It tasted unusual, a bit salty, and a part of my brain noted that it was probably mineral water.

Eventually though, I had to breath, and pulled the bottle away, gulping down air in place of the water.

The warmth beside me made me turn my head; and there Shepard sat, idly sipping at a bottle of water similar to my own. I looked around the bay to find that none of the others were pausing, Garrus was correcting Tali's holding of a pistol, and Chief Williams was running Lieutenant Alenko and Wrex through another set of maneuvers.

Shame washed over me, I was supposed to be a part of this group, the ground team, and I wasn't even able to keep up with the rest of them in practice training.

"What are you good at?"

"Hu- Wha-? What are you talking about Commander?"

He looked over at my confused face and repeated slowly, "What are you good at?"

'_I thought I already told him this…' _I replied hesitantly, "I have some measure of talent at biotics…"

"Have you _**ever **_had any military training?"

'_I know he should know that one, but I guess I'll play along…'_ "No, I haven't Commander."

He smiled, "Then don't get so down in the dumps when you don't measure up at everything everyone here can do. Just because you can't do two hundred push-ups followed by an equal number of laps around the Normandy doesn't mean anything," he paused as a thoughtful look crossed his face, "Actually, I don't think I could do that either…"

The Spectre shook his head some and continued, "Hell, you could probably run circles around Alenko, Wrex and I when it comes to biotics. I wouldn't doubt that you can pull off more powerful biotics for longer periods of time than anyone here. So don't feel so bad when it comes to things like this, besides, this isn't even all out training yet, just an evaluation… all I'm trying to do is see where your strengths fit in with the rest of us."

I was left speechless for a moment, "T-Thank you Commander…"

The dark haired human smiled warmly at me and I could feel myself smiling back; we stayed like that for a long moment before his eyes swept over the bay. When they did, I watched as those emerald orbs of his danced with mirth.

I followed his gaze to find Chief Williams and Lieutenant Alenko sparring, much more heatedly than before, with the Krogan watching with an amused grin.

I looked back to Mason, "Commander…?"

"It looks like Wrex asked who would win, Ash or Kaiden, and they obliged him with a little sparring match…" _'Oh… well, that makes sense… I guess… but why does he find that so funny?' _"But I'm willing to bet that Wrex won't leave it at that…"

He looked over at me finally, having spoken while watching his human companions spar before, "Most krogan view everyone through their ability to fight, and judge everyone, including friends and allies. Ash is going to win that match, and then Wrex is going to eventually bring up who's the better between them, Ash and Wrex that is."

My brow furrowed as I considered what he had said, and I looked over at the mismatched trio of two human marines and a krogan battle-master. I came to the conclusion that if what Shepard said about krogan nature was true, then his assessment was likely correct. But still… what was so amusing about this?

I turned back to him, "Still… what is so funny?"

A smirk slowly formed on his face, the end of the crescent scar over his right eye curling up and out, "Wrex thinks that he's got everyone here beat when it comes to the closer combat. While I'm better at biotics than him; both Garrus and I are better than him whit the sniper rifle; Alenko, Garrus, Tali, and me and better than him when it comes to messing with tech; and everyone here has more training than he does when it comes to first aid… he's tough as hell and should be able to kick all our asses at close range, biotics notwithstanding."

His smirk became a full-blown grin, "But I'd be willing to bet that when Ash and him spar, he's going to be the one getting his ass kicked, not her."

A loud thump interrupted my processing of that little bit of information, and I looked to see the Lieutenant face first on the floor, with Chief Williams holding his arm behind his back, "Say uncle!"

"Uncle! Uncle!" the Chief leaned in, her 'Hmmmm? What was that?' almost inaudible from here, though Alenko's response was not, "Uncle damnit! I said Uncle!"

Chief Williams got off of her commanding officer with a, I believed the term was 'shit-eating grin', "Told you I could beat him."

I could see Alenko's lips move and barely heard his muttered, "So did I."

Their krogan companion grunted, then his deep croak of a voice echoed across the bay, "Not bad… but I could beat you."

"Oh really?"

* * *

"Say Uncle! _Say _Uncle!"

"Alright! Uncle! Uncle damnit!"

Ash let the larger Krogan up; grinning widely at Wrex as he rubbed his snout, the same snout that had been roughly pressed against the floor a few moments ago.

The krogan huffed some, rolling his abused shoulder, the tendons would be sore for a while from being wrenched in a direction they weren't supposed to, but he would be okay.

Here he was, a krogan battlemaster, several centuries old, and a human marine had wrestled him to the floor, several times.

His first lunge had gotten his arm grabbed and flipped over her shoulder onto the floor, then he had the same arm wrenched behind his back. So had his next lunge.

This third exchange he had let her come at him, which she had made it look like she was going to lunge for him; but when their arms locked, her leg swept Wrex's out from under him and he ended up with his nose to the deck and both arms behind his back.

"Care to go again Wrex?"

The krogan spun towards her and snarled, but stopped when the Commander's voice rung out in the bay, "Careful Chief, if Wrex was using his biotics you would be getting your ass handed to you…"

The Gunnery Chief scowled this time, and the battlemaster smiled, "But you have to admit Wrex… you're getting _your_ ass handed to you without them," and their expressions reversed once again.

Shepard smiled at them both, "Anyways, the point's been made, you two can duke it out on your own time… not during training."

"Well I thought we were supposed to duke it out during training," Wrex grinned openly.

"No. The whole point of this training is so you learn other people's tricks and make up for whatever area's you are weak in or strengthen what you're already good at. The point is _not_ to kick each other's asses. Like I said, you can do that on your own time," he ended his little speech with a small grin.

The two most antagonistic members of the Normandy crew gave each other a quick glare before moving on.

As everyone resumed training (Tali and Garrus had stopped training to watch Ash and Wrex 'duke it out'), the Commander keyed the com in his ear, "Joker, give me an update on how long till we reach Ferros."

"Given the conduits we have to reach and the distance between them… I'd say we have about twelve hours Commander."

"Thanks Joker, Shepard out."

He turned to the asari scientist, "Now, let's work on how you're holding that pistol."

A.N.): I'm not exactly happy with this chapter... It didn't turn out as good as I expected it to... I had some things planned that just didn't work out as I started writing it. Anyways, I decided to post it up as is instead of working on it for another week and making my readers wait even longer for the next chapter. So onward into the great beyond!


	7. Who To Bring?

Shepard sat at the terminal closer to his bed, slowly typing data into it. His omni-tool had been linked up with the terminal and all the data he had collected on his crew had been imputed.

He typed in his personal observations on his alien companions. Liara was first; she would take the longest simply because he was putting in _everything _about her.

As expected, Liara had only rudimentary skills with the mass-accelerated weapons, and almost no talent for close combat. She had almost floundered at every strike, and would have been taken out quickly if it had been a real situation.

Mason eased back in his chair and quietly popped his knuckles. While Liara didn't do very well by most people's reckoning… the readings on her biotics were unbelievable… and that was without an amp. She could muster up a throw of almost a thousand Newtons and could put out any biotic that he had even heard of.

Talk about overwhelming force…she was unbelievably strong with biotics, but had almost no actual combat skills… she could clear a room, as long as she had something, or some_**one**_ to hide behind.

Several lines on the screen read:

Dr. Liara T'Soni

_Weapons Assessment__: Sniper Rifle: Untrained (2 Sighting Issues)__**;**__ Assault Rifle: Untrained (23 Mobile Accuracy Minimal)__**;**__ Shotgun: Untrained (16 Unaccustomed to Recoil)__**;**__ Pistol: Untrained (63 No Outstanding Problems)._

_Technological Assessment__: Electronic Skill: Reasonable __**;**__ Decrypting Capabilities: None __**;**__ Tech Mine Proficiency: Low._

_Biotic Assessment__: Barrier: Throw: 6m Radius, 1050 Newtons __**;**__ Warp: 67 Standard Disrupter Torpedo Strength __**;**__ Lift: 6m Radius, Disperses 1,500 Kg __**;**__ Singularity: 20m Radius __**;**__ Stasis: 17 Seconds._

_Miscellaneous: Close Combat: Low (Lacks size, strength, speed, and skill) **; **Durability: Low **; **Medical Training: Notable **; **Armor Proficiency: Light._

_**Personal Assessment: **__Take on missions when expecting numerous opposition. __Always__ pair up with Wrex, to act as mobile cover for her. Encourage use of Singularity and Throw. Prioritize Pistol and Shielding for equipment choice._

Satisfied that he had put everything he needed to into the file, he saved it and moved on. He pulled up a screen he already had, this time it was Wrex's.

The Krogan remained a bit of a mystery to the Commander, he was pretty sure he had a bead on the Krogan's personality... but his history was almost unknown, as was what he was _really_ capable of.

He typed in several additions to the assessments on his Krogan companion, updating his reaction time and putting in some new data on his training in close combat. He then plugged in the same for Garrus and Tali, updating the data on them as well.

Mason leaned back in his chair, skimming over the data he had put in just to be sure it was what it was supposed to be, before moving on to the next issue at hand.

Ferros.

He slipped from one console to the other, the anti-decryption software on this one wasn't exactly Spectre grade, but this one had direct access to the extranet. He kept his important files on the normally blue console, but to get new data he went to this one.

His fingers danced on the keys and he brought up all the information on Ferros, it wasn't that he didn't trust Captain Anderson's info... it was just that he wanted to be sure, and the extranet held volumes of data if you knew how to use it.

The Spectre pulled up some interesting information on Ferros...

...if you were bored sensless.

Out of all the figures he found and lengthy histories and studies, only a couple really mattered to him.

The population count, he had to know how many people to expect and how many he might hope to find.

Exo-Geni was the corporation that had bothered with the colony in the first place, that would tell him the kind of people to expect: Corporate Jackasses.

The colony and its' surrounding area was primarily 'repurposed' Prothean ruins, giving him an idea what architecture to expect, how much cover, and the like... the place would be too much rubble and too little open space for casual use of a sniper rifle...

The details on gravity, average wind speed, air pressure, and predicted weather conditions for the estimated arival time were the last thing on his list.

He did a quick number crunch in his head, given the current modifications to his rifle, he would need to adjust his aim to the left by... two millimeters per seventy-five meters of range and up by... one? No... one point five millimeters per hundred meters of range.

The easy stuff out of the way, he had the hard decision in front of him... who should he bring?

Too large a squad and it becomes unwieldy, but as much as he preffered to work alone at times, Shepard knew full well he needed his crew and squad.

It was best to keep a highly skilled squad between three and four people, five tops. And Mason knew he could solo a stealth mission.

Trouble was... who to bring? Each of his available squad memebers had considerable talents... but he had to measure their talents against what he was expecting.

He knew he wasn't going to bring Tali. Yes, they were expecting Geth. Yes, she had unbelievable talent with tech mines and hacking. Yes, she could use a shotgun. And yes, with the improved armor he had gotten her, her kinetic shielding was almost twice his own... But...

Maybe it was because she reminded him of his little sister, but he didn't want to drag her into a full out firefight unless he had to. It was possible they wouldn't even get to use the Mako, and odds seemed in favor of there being a number of rocket-launchers, which would kill her regardless of kinetic shielding. They were expecting an invading army of those synthetics. At very least she wouldn't be on the ground team this time.

Garrus? Well... while the Turian had a number of skills, his best ones wouldn't really be much use. The tight quarters would make his sniper rifle relatively inneffective, and if they weren't careful, his tech mines might harm them as well.

The Lieutenant was definitely out. Mason had only respect for his record, but... Kaiden's talents mirrored Shepards own in a number of ways, only, not as good as Shepard. And Kaiden had almost no skill with any gun but the pistol. There wasn't any point dragging him along.

Shepard knew he was going to bring Wrex. The krogan was more of a tank than most of his people, and with the better armor and a good shotgun, he could wade through the enemies. And in a pinch, his biotics could take the pressure off. Definitely someone to bring on a close combat mission.

Williams? Or T'Soni?

He considered it for a full moment. Ash had considerable skill with every weapon class and could take a beating. The woman was a marine through and through, and they _were_ expecting an invading army of geth... But she had no other major skills aside form some basic first aid training.

Liara though, with her powerful biotics, would decimate the geth in closer combat... more so than Mason himself even... but she couldn't use a gun very well and was still relatively untested in battle...

Shepard rocked back in his chair, letting his hands fall in his lap as he pondered the question.

It was very likely that Liara's skills and knowledge of the Prothean's _would _come in handy here, but she needed to be tested in battle _safely_.

Mason wasn't going to send someone into battle to die if he could help it.

And as tough as Wrex was, it'd definitely be best if there was someone else in the squad who could take a beating, Mason knew _he _couldn't.

So what _would_ the best solution be?

Take all three of them of course.

Wrex would play bodygaurd for Liara, Liara would keep the geth off their feet, Shepard could bring down their shields and mess up their weapons, and Ash could shoot geth all day long. Everybody wins, except the geth, they get to lose horribly.

His mind made up, Mason checked the the E.T.A. counter, two hours left.

He reached up, turning off the console with his other hand, "Joker?"

"Yeah Commander?"

"Could you page Ash, Liara and Wrex. They're the lucky ground team."

"Sure thing Commander, where should they meet you?"

The Commander pondered it for a moment, "Mess, we'll debrief there and move depending on whether we can land or have to drop in the Mako."

"Right away Commander."

* * *

A.N.): I might just add the first part of Ferros to this chapter... I doubt it though... Still, any comments or criticisms are appreciated. I like to know what people think of my stories. And thanks to everyone that's reviewed so far!


	8. As nice as this is

Gunnery Chief Williams adjusted the heavily modified assault-rifle in her hands.

The Commander was having them go in hot, dock or not.

She glanced at the two other members of the squad, both aliens. She didn't like it, but the Commander's reasoning was sound, he had been sure to come to her before the actual briefing and explained who he was taking and why to her.

"Equalizing interior pressure with exterior atmosphere," the Chief was reminded why she didn't care for the Normandy's VI, "Logged: The commanding officer is ashore, navigator Pressley has the deck."

With a pop and a hiss, the exterior door of the Normandy slid open and Mason stepped out of the Normandy quickly, his body flaring blue for just a moment before a strange distortion settled around him.

The Krogan, Wrex, followed closely behind him to the right, Doctor T'Soni and Williams followed behind them.

Ash knew why they were doing this, with that biotic field of his up and his enhanced shielding, Shepard could reasonably expect to survive most any suprise attack with minimal damage. Their resident tank as Shepard called him, the nickname brought a small grin to Chief William's face, was there to cover him if things suddenly got hot.

Even though the Normandy's sensors showed nothing out there except a single guy, human even.

To some, it might've seemed a bit paranoid, but one look at the Commander's uncovered face reminded her, _'He got those from **not** being careful and almost paranoid.'_

Mason was the only one of the group that didn't have his gun out, which confused the Gunnery Chief some.

His hardsuit's boots made declamatory thuds against the concrete as he strode down the dock straight to the man standing there.

I didn't pay much attention as the man spoke to Mason, I was mostly scanning the area behind the guy. Shepard was uneasy, and that made the rest of us uneasy.

A glimpse of black against the gray concrete caught my eye, "Shit!"

Mason snatched the front of the man's shirt and threw him aside as a pink-red flare flew through the air where the colonist had stood moments before. My rifle snapped up and I fired a staccatto of shots into the fool Shock Trooper as the blast connected with Shepard's shielding.

The unique sound of Mason's custom-modified pistol, a freakish half-second -_pattapat- , _and a triple burst of green appeared on the Shock Troopers flashlight head before melting away into a puddle of green.

I didn't take time to enjoy the view and dove behind one of several crates for cover.

"Liara. Singularity, at the doorway. On three. Ash, Wrex, waste 'em. I'm going straight down the middle with mines," Wrex and me gave affirmative grunts, and Miss Greenhorn Alien practically squeeked before acknowledging.

"One." _'Safety's off,' _I could see Mason out of the corner of my eye, taking cover behind a crate, the colonist wedged between him, the low wall, and the box.

"Two." The commander flipped the pistol to his left hand and pulled out the other that he had in place of a shotgun.

"Three."

Sometimes it scared me how good Shepard was. He had been expecting that ambush, and the second one of the two stalkers that followed it.

But I always reminded myself with a smile, _'He's one **my** side.'_

As it was, the four of us were jogging up toward the colony, our saved colonist stuck in the middle of the four of us. Crumpled geth shells behind us.

The colonists chatter reached our ears before we reached their barricade. Shepard stopped just past it and jerked his head at 'our' colonist, his voice deep and commanding, "Go."

As he ran off, Mason turned his head to the colonist nearest to him, "Where's Fai Dan?"

The colonist pointed, "You can go straight through the frieghter, you can't miss him."

Shepard started jogging again, the rest of us following without complaint. I tried to tune out the colonists scared comments the fear in their voices as we moved quickly to the other side of the frieghter.

Mason slid to a halt in front of an older man with a shaved head and big ears, the man spoke before Mason could, "Commander! I'm glad they finally sent someone to help us."

The woman in a hardsuit beside him spoke up, "You're a bit late aren't you?"

"Arceilia!" The man snapped at her, couldn't really blame him, then turned back to us, "I'm sorry, everyone's been on edge since-"

A faint noise caught my attention, my head jerked away from Fai Dan even as Arceilia brought her gun up and shouted, "Look out!"

Our guns popped up, Mason swapping his pistols for his sniper rifle as Fai Dan shouted out to the colony, "Get in the tower! Protect the heart of the colony!"

"Wrex." One word and the krogan sprung into action, the distorted blue field of a biotic barrier enhancing his already impressive shields as he stepped straight into the line of fire.

The mass accelerated rounds slammed into his shielding as he stepped forward, Shepard right behind him with his rifle actually mounted over the Krogan's shoulder. T'Soni and I flanked the pair as Mason's rifle boomed, T'Soni flared blue-er than usual and threw out her arm, a number of geth flew into the air when the following field slammed into them.

I gleefully pumped rounds into the airborne geth, idly noting that the shot Mason got off nearly cleaved a geth in two.

The synthetics fell quickly under our combined fire-power, but the Commander didn't stop, "Williams, shotgun, you're with me on point. Wrex, assault rifle, rear gaurd. Liara, stasis fields and lifts."

Swapping guns as I jogged up beside the Commander I tried to figure this man out, all smiles and jokes on the Normandy or Citadel, those dead sexy smirks and sarcastic comments when there's nothing around to shoot, but something pops up-

My musings were interrupted by a mans terrified screams, "Don't let me die! _**Please!**_ Don't let me die!"

Shepard exhaled harshly and flared blue, the distorted field surrounding him as the two of us ran up the stairs.

Mason skidded to a halt in front of the door a moment before I did and was rewarded with a carage shot in the chest from a grateful geth.

I lunged into the space and spun on my heel, firing my shotgun once, twice into the shock troopers chest before it could recover. Dropping it like the hunk of slag it was.

Suddenly I felt myself falling backwards and hitting something hard, a flash of red painting my vision with spots.

The pressure around me suddenly changed with a -_THOOM-. _

For a moment I thought I'd been shot and waited for the pain, slumping against the wall I was leaning against.

"Williams," I felt myself literally hoisted to my feet by the collar of my hardsuit, "As enticing as having your backside pressed against me is, we've still got work to do."

I stood shakily and looked behind me to see Mason with his rifle in one hand as the other dropped to his side.

Okay... so I wasn't hurt...

A quick glance around revealed two holes in the walls. One in the pillar behind me, a geth sniper round if I recognized it properly, which would account for the flash of red. The other was about the size of my fist straight through the concrete wall beside the door, only Mason't gun could shoot like that.

I put two and two together. Mason saw the sniper beam at my head, yanked me out of the way just in time, then shot one handed through the wall. The shrapnel from the round going through the wall would've killed the geth.

Me, in all my grand stupidity, thought I got shot and had slumped against him. Great. Just shoot me now.

"Right Commander." I could feel the heat on my cheeks.

Shepard moved quietly through the doorway, _'Jeez, I have a hard enough time because I'm a Williams... now I've got to embarass myself in front of him by doing stuff like that!?'_

He waved me and the aliens forward, once again with him at point. After a pair of turns I noticed a red dot on my radar, "Commander?"

"I see it," the rifle shifted in his hands some, "Hold here for just a sec."

He slid forward, silent and low to the ground, the splotchy gray paint-job on his suit blending in well with the concrete around him. I did my best to keep an eye on him as he crept around a bend, but even then I almost lost sight of him.

Mason moved up an incline to our right in the large room, there was a lot of open space around us, which would make the shotgun useless, I switched over to my assault rifle, holding it close as I waited for Shepards orders.

Suddenly the TEAM-COM clicked on, "Liara, how far from yourself can you set up a singularity?"

I could practically hear the blue alien beside me think it over before replying, "About twenty-five meters Commander."

"Good. Wrex, Williams, you to are going to pop out here and start shooting at anything that moves, Liara, you're behind them, I want you to put a singularity at the end of the hall, it's approximately twenty meters."

I keyed my com and could hear the other two do the same, "Roger."

"On my mark."

This time, I wouldn't embarass myself in front of him, or these two aliens either, I _would_ do better this time, I _would_.

"Mark."

The three of us burst from the cover of the wall into the room, heralded by the booming sound of Mason's rifle.

T'Soni stayed behind Wrex and me as the two of us unloaded into the geth in front of us. I couldn't help but grin as a blue sun appeared at the end of the hall, and almost every geth in the room flew into orbit around it. Talk about fish in a barrel.

As Wrex and I pumped rounds into the damn synthetics, Shepard's booming rifle could be heard over all other sounds in the large room, echoing several times over with each shot. I didn't bother to see what he was shooting at, I knew he would be keeping us out of harms way.

When the sounds of gunfire died down and the slag metal that used to be geth fell to the ground, the characteristic whine of a geth dropship was finally noticable.

I looked up to see the sizeable ship hover just above us, "Well... shit..."

Suddenly, I heard several loud _'Ka-pchunk' _s. And almost exactly like Ferros, a number of geth troopers fell to the ground in front of us.

As I raised my gun to open fire, a blue distortion flew through the air to my right and landed in the center of the synthetics, knocking the mess of them off their feet and into the surrounding walls, I actually winced from some of the crunching sounds that came from the impact as some of the geth litterally folded in half.

A quick glance up confirmed what my ears were telling me: The dropship was leaving.

I turned back to thank T'Soni, it _was _a pretty good job, but I stopped when I saw her. She was staring, mouth slightly open, off to the side. I followed her gaze to find the Commander at the other end, walking calmly down the incline towards us as he holstered his sniper-rifle.

"Uh... Commander?"

He finished the sentance for me, "Why didn't I do that earlier?"

"Well... yeah, why?"

"Because if I had, then I wouldn't have been able to do it when the dropship dropped its' little present for us. I was saving it in case of that," he waved a hand at one of the geth corpses in the room.

"Oh..." _'Does he always think a step ahead?'_

The krogan startled me out of my musing with deep voice of his, "Are we gonna bother telling that guy that the geth've been dealt with before we get going?"

"Yeah, we are," Shepard looked over at Wrex, the grin in his voice even if you couldn't see it through his faceplate, "Because they might know where to go after this."

* * *

  
A.N.): Sorry this one took a bit longer, couldn't figure out how to start it. Anyways, on to the next chapter!

P.S. Reviews are loved! Digital cookies for everybody (who reviewed)!


	9. Not all that bad Shepard

"So now what Commander?"

I glanced over at Chief Williams when she spoke; I appreciated her vocal inclination, as she had voiced my own concerns.

When we had returned to the colony after dealing with the geth's assault, Shepard had gotten a status report from Fai Dan… it hadn't sounded good.

The decision had come quick, we had plenty of medigel, and between the Commander, Chief Williams, and myself, there was a considerable amount of first aid and medical knowledge. The three of us had fanned out through-out the colony and checked up on everyone, treating wounds and figuring out the issues with the colony, which were many. Wrex had been sent back to the dock to check out the geth remains for anything valuable, salvageable, or 'still twitching' as the Commander had put it.

Once we were done, thankfully there were few serious wounds or injured persons, and had given our reports of what was missing or wrong with the community, the Chief had posed her question.

Shepard scowled as he adjusted his omni-tool, most likely reloading it with a medi-gel packet for quick use, "I don't want to waste time, but these people need help, and I don't want a mess of synthetics to suddenly flank us or assault this colony again, and possibly the Normandy. We're going to at very least deal with that damn transmitter and the geth down there, if we can find ways to fix their problems while we're down there, all the better."

The krogan's lips pulled back, baring his teeth and the ridges above his eyes creased, "Sounds fun."

I could practically feel the Gunnery Chief's scowl beside me, I couldn't exactly blame her, the krogan looked fearsome and enraged.

Then Shepard spoke up, his voice clearly amused and teasing, "Oh calm down you two, that's a _smile_."

We both looked at the Commander disbelievingly, "I'm sorry sir, but… you're kidding right?"

As Wrex chuckled, Shepard shook his head, "Yes Ash, I'm completely sure I know what a krogan's smile looks like, I've seen it enough times… in all honesty, that was almost certainly an elated grin, wasn't it Wrex?"

The corners of said Krogans' lips turned upward and he bared his teeth a little less, "Actually… it was more of… joyous exclamation," his gravelly bass voice was clearly amused, though at what was hard to tell.

I filed away the link between that facial expression and Wrex's explanation of it's meaning. Though I was unsure whether the krogan was being truthful or not, it closely coincided with Shepard's assessment, thus it was likely that it was an accurate definition.

Something beeped, and my eyes caught the holographic reading scrolling along on Mason's visor, "Okay, I've got the schematics, if you'd call them that, of the tunnels Fai Dan was referring to," his emerald eyes darted back and forth behind the face-plate of the environmentally sealed suit, absorbing the information as it flowed across the visor.

After several moments, the screen cleared and those striking eyes focused on the three of us once more, "Alright, let's go."

* * *

The tunnels were almost partially rubble, and the sniper in me chaffed at the lack of places for a good shot. Too many angles, to many covered corridors, and a couple too many doors for my tastes, and once we got done with this blasted transmitter we would be going uphill... damn, damn and more damn, the rifle would be almost useless here.

I slid in front of the squad, point, I was always point, and for a reason. I peeked around the awkward corner to find nothing, no movement. A click on the com and the squad followed after me while I moved across the walkway. Too much open space to check, too many ambush possibilities, I focused, pulling the dark energy around me like a security blanket, an old friend, a sharp tensing of my body and I accepted the slightly distorted view of the world for the biotic barrier I surrounded myself with.

My barrel swept back and forth over each side of the walkway even as the squad sidled up behind me, still no movement. I pushed forward, making sure to distinguish myself against the background but keep my footfalls soft, nothing was keeping the geth from seeing us if they were out there, and I wanted to take a hit before Ash or Liara, but that didn't mean the geth knew we were down here yet.

My squad got the idea, keeping their own steps light, or in Wrex's case just quiet, as they followed behind me.

A fist went up at the intersection, and I could almost feel them freeze behind me, a quick glance to the left told me that nothing had gone through their recently, the doorway in front of us read completely offline to my hardsuits sensors, but there was light coming from the right.

Right it was then.

Quick steps brought me to the opening in the wall, I pressed my back against it and inched my way over to the edge once again, I exposed only the least little bit of my face, enough to see down the hallway.

Ah, I was wondering where the geth were.

I checked my radar to be sure that there weren't any hidden behind some rocks that I couldn't see.

- JAMMED -

Okay... that was seriously annoying. Problem was that there was a chance the geth would detect me if I engaged the counter-jamming built into my rifle.

It wasn't worth it. Even if there was one or two I couldn't see, taking out the others would be like shooting fish in a bucket.

Decision made, I keyed the assassination protocols into my rifle. I took a moment to crunch the numbers for distance adjustment and get a feel for the planet's gravity-well. The dark energy gathered in my palm as my neuron's fired over and over in sequence.

I spun from cover, releasing the biotic field from my left hand down the corridor and bringing the hand to the stock of the rifle in one movement. The muzzle came to bear as the blue distortion hurtled down the hallway, knocking the synthetics off their feet.

Red-tinted cross-hairs landed on the lone shock trooper.

My finger twitched, the rifle kicked into my shoulder and the geth's upper torso ceased to exist.

The crosshairs on my HUD twitched from the recoil even as I swung the gun over, watching the circle coalesce into a triangle over the sniper at the end of the hall.

_-twitch-kick-THOOM-_

The muzzle swung again, cross-hairs tinting orange as the target registered hostile.

_-twitch-kick-THOOM-_

"Commander-"

Reflexes kicked in, the gun pulling away from my body, the other hand slapping open the manual heat valve on the gun, letting the super-heated steam blast forth and the heat indicator plummet before shoving the valve back into place with a metallic -_clickCHACK-_

"-do you need any help?"

I waited for a second, when nothing shot at me I grinned, "Nope. We're heading out."

As the rest of the squad moved in on my position, I actually _looked_ at the hallway; there was something white on the wall at the other end, and here was another one beside me, looked like the switch for a valve if I remembered my plumbing.

If this blasted thing didn't control the water, I'd eat my helmet.

Shouldering my sniper rifle I clicked on my right omni-tool, and with several carefully chosen finger twitches set it to scanning the valve. The data popped up on my HUD and what do you know, my helmet's safe for another ten minutes.

I curled my index finger, trying to open the valve, the angry beep in my ear told me that on _no_ uncertain terms was the valve going to be opened remotely.

"Uh... sir?"

"Just a second Williams," I hunkered down in front of the valve, looking for the switch or button to open it... _'Ah, there it is.'_

_-click-_

_..._

_..._

"Commander?"

...

...

_-WHAM!-_

_-Ka-KLUNK-_

The sound of rushing water made me smile, _'There we go.' _With a satisfied nod I spun on my heel and headed off down the hallway towards the other valve.

"Not all that bad Shepard."

"Thank you Wrex."

Williams tried to stifle the snicker when she spoke, "It really was a pretty good kick, sir."

* * *

A.N.): Okay, there's two ways this could go, I could go through the rest of the underground area, or I can just jump on to the part with the Mako and onward. If I continue the underground thing I'm just going to add it on to this chapter, but if I jump it's going to be a brand new chapter. It's your guys call.  
I'm going to leave it up to you guys (and gals). I'm going to start both just in case, but in a week I'm going to really start working on whatever you guys decide, I sorta need a break ;  
I'm half considering doing a oneshot of some kind for Avatar: The Last Airbender (I got back into the show just recently)...


	10. Eep? Yes, Eep

Shepard looked between the three paths, and it was blatantly obvious that he was trying to figure out which way to go first.

"Sir?"

"Yes Williams?"

"Having trouble?"

"Definitely," the marine reached into one of the special pouches on his hardsuit, pulling out a small silver disk with engravings on both sides, he made a fist, settling it on top of his thumb he flicked it up into the air, sending it spinning and careening upward.

As the disk spun in free-fall, Wrex gave the Spectre a confused look, "...Shepard?"

With a quick motion of his hand, Shepard snatched the spinning disk out of the air and slapped it onto the back of his other hand, looking down at it intently for just a moment before putting the disk back into his pocket, "Yes Wrex?"

The krogan gave him a look that was certainly questioning the marine's sanity, "What the hell was that?"

He smiled at his companion, shouldering his rifle and heading down the path to the right, "It's an old thing that human's used to use to decide between two choices."

This got the Gunnery Chief's attention, "Wait... that was an old coin?"

"An old eight-piece from the days of the British Empire on Earth actually," the Commander froze just beyond the range of the automatic door in front of him, "Later though. We've got geth to stop."

"Wrex, Williams, on both sides of me, assault rifles. I'll trigger the door, if anything so much as twitches, shoot it," the Spectre brought up his rifle, bringing the scope to his eye, "T'Soni, behind me, biotics at your discretion."

The squad moved at his orders, the two heavily armored members of the group getting on either side of him, once there, Shepard took a step forward.

The door clinked and opened with a metallic sound, the hallway looked empty.

A binary sound that likely passed for surprise in whatever language the geth used told them otherwise.

Three pairs of guns snapped up at the sound, pointed at the pair of geth snipers on a ledge above the walkway.

Shepard didn't bother pulling the trigger, his gun coming back down even as the near deafening sound of two assault rifles firing on full auto filled the small space.

_'Sonuva-!' -THOOM-_

Mason pulled the trigger on reflex, the hypersonic slug blasting away the drone's shielding. As the red painted rocket drone hopped into the air shouldered the rifle and snapped his wrist, a grenade disk popping up into his hand.

* * *

I felt completely and utterly useless.

Gunnery Chief Williams was an extremely skilled and hardened warrior, Undurot Wrex was a terrifying presence on the battlefield in addition to being a skilled biotic, what use was I?

When I saw the Commander's hand snap up, catching a glimpse of a small disk held between his fingers, I immediately covered my ears.

The camera on my hard-suit caught the blur of the grenade as it flew through the air and magnetically attached itself to the drone in mid-jump.

_-click-_

In the fraction of a second between Shepard pressing the detonator and the following explosion I had time to ponder the likelihood of the drone surviving the charge, which was entirely dependant on whether it was a tech mine or an actual grenade that the Commander had thrown.

The blinding flash, low boom, and pressure wave of a high explosive grenade left the drone as an almost entirely empty casing. The forms of the two geth soon crumpling off of the balcony onto the walkway before us.

It was things like this that made me feel useless, I barely had a chance to react. I was _still_ unused to confrontation in all of its forms, let alone life or death combat.

Shepard started to walk forward, bringing his rifle to bear, and my eyes trailed past him towards the end of the hallway.

Then the Krogan spun out into the open at the end of the hallway, flinging its arm; and even from here, I could hear the soft beep as a grenade armed itself in the air.

We reacted.

Shepard dived. Williams started to cover her head. Wrex began to step in front of me.

I shoved the wall of Krogan aside and threw out my other arm, the dark energy flying from my palm in a wave of blue.

The grenade was thrown back into the enemy Krogan, and the large amphibian was slammed back into the wall behind it.

Moments later, the explosive disk detonated with a dull roar, thermite paste flying everywhere at the end of the hall and soon burning through the Krogan's armor and flesh.

Another pair of the massive Krogan leapt out of cover, running straight at us with unbelievable speed.

I threw out my other arm, distorting the energy of the planets gravity well and coalescing it in a single point just in front of the charging pair.

As the blue sun of a singularity flared into existence, and the Krogan sent into orbit, Shepard reacted.

"Unload!"

Even from his unusual position on the floor, laying on his side like that, Mason's rifle boomed. My two other companions bringing their own weapons to bear and filling the air with a staccato of gunfire; Mason's rifle the downbeat of every measure.

It was a short song.

When the singularity ended, the bullet-filled corpses fell to the floor, and I was left staring at them, speechless, and blinking stupidly.

I had done _**that**_?!

How in the Goddess' will had I done that?! Even Mason hadn't reacted like that! And I had _shoved_ Wrex! What in the name of the Goddess was I thinking?!

A sound snapped me out of my total stupidity and my head turned sharply to find Shepard standing up. He glanced over at me, his gaze less intense than it usually was, almost appreciative, "Nice save Liara. That could've been messy," and with that, he turned his covered face back towards the hall, bringing his rifle up once again.

I flushed, I couldn't help it. It felt as if he had given me a glowing compliment and showered me with amazing praise, despite the fact that he had only said a grand total of seven words. His opinion seemed to count for much more than it should to me. It should count for a lot of course, it was at his will that I was allowed to stay on the ship, he was an unbelievably discerning and attentive individual and any praise from him surely had to be earned, but why did it fill me with warmth like this from such a small compliment?

"Hey, T'Soni. We should keep moving you know, keep up with the Commander and all that."

"Eep!"

A.N.): Okay, here's the deal, the writing but caught a hold of me and startd throwing me around until I started writing on an idea I had for an Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic. So i did. There's also the little issue that my 360 died on me the day after I started working on this again, it just came back in from repairs, so I'm starting on this again. I think I'm going to alternate between each story, chapter by chapter. I'm going to have some free time for a while now, so if I don't update something reasonably soon, shoot me!


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